Rack guide for cooking ovens



March 2,

Filed Oct.

l.. S. cHADwlcK ET AL RACK GUIDE FOR COOKING ovENs 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORS attorney@ MarCh 2, 1954 l.. s. cHA'DwlcK ETYAL 2,671,004

RACK GUIDE FOR COOKING OVNSl Filed Oct. 28, 1949 2 sheets-sheetv 2INVENToRs ee 6. C'/aa/w/ck i@ BY Marc csek LAMTQMM duw/regs PatentedMar. 2, 1954 RACK come Fon cooKrNG ovENs Lee Si Chadwick, ShakerHeights, and Marc Resek, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, assgnors to PerfectionStove Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application October 28, 1949, Serial N0. 124,158

Claims. (Cl. 312.-350) practical due to the usual protuberances forsupporting the racks. The absence of protuberances on the oven wallsfacilitates the enameling of the walls in the ii'rst instance, reducesthe possibility of subsequent chipping ofthe enamel, and not only makesa white enamel practical but makes easier the cleaning of the ovens whenin service. Also, when the Walls are plain, there is less opportunityfor foreign matter to lodge v-upon and adhere to the walls.

An object Aof .our invention, therefore, is to provide an oven structureincluding walls that are devoid of protuberances, and rack guides thatldctachably interlock with the oven structure in such manner as to befirmly supported adjacent the side walls of the oven compartment andthat sare capable of being easily and quickly emplaced,

and, withl equal facility, removed for the purp of cleaning the oven.

Another object is to provide an oven structure including sheet metalwalls, and rack. guides therefor, wherein eachrack. guide is in thenature fof a comparatively rigid, generally rectangular unit having atwo-point attachment to the oven structure, the points of attachmentbeing on an axis substantially diagonal of the unit Iand so related tothe adjacent side wall of the oven that A,the rack guide is held under,some degree voi' stress Vagainst said wallfany tendency of the rackguide 'to rock upon said axis-being opposed by contact of the remotecorner portions ci the guide with .the wall. y

-- Another and important object of our' invention isto provide an oven,and removable rack; guides therefor, wherein the rack guides cooperatewith the oven structure in a manner to practieaily eliminate anypossibility of the racky guides being accidentally displaced, thuspromoting safe-ty'.

Further objects are the attainment of attractiveness of appearance,simplicity of con struction and fabrication, ease of assembly, and.economyof manufacture,y in devices of theclass towhich the inventionrelates.

The' 'foregoing and other objects 'and esta@ tages will appear as We.proceed to describe our invention, in detail, by the use of referencecharmail.

. 2 acters in connection with the accompanying drawings, and whereinlike characters designate like parts in the several views. In thedrawings, Fig, 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a cooking stove orrange, looking directly into an oven incorporating our im-g provements;Fig. 2 is a somewmat similar View' showing one of the rack guides beingremoved or emplaced; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the oven, fromfront to rear, showing a rack and one of the rack guides in position inthe oven; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through one side of the oven,the plane of section. being indicated by the line 4--4- of Fig. 3; andFigs. 5 and 6 are enlarged sectional details on the lines 5 5 and 6--5,respectively, of Fig, 3.

The oven structure, designated generally by the reference numeral I,includes a top wall 2, side walls 3 and a rear wall 4. The bottom of theoven compartment is defined by a member 5 and a removable panel Themember 5 is in the form of a channel which is connected Vat itsends,through the medium of brackets l, to the side walls 3.

The rack guides are designated,` generally, by the reference numeral I9.Each consists of a front member II, a rear member I2, and a plu.- ralityof rails i3. The members Il and l2 and `the rails I3 are preferably madeof relatively heavy rods. Stili rods o about a quarter inch diameterhave been found especiallyk suitable. The ends'of vthe rails i3 areturned laterally `in the same direction at right angles to, their bodyportions and are welded to the members il and I2. The front member IIhas a right angular bend at its lower end to provide a foot I, and

therebeyond is turned downwardly to form a .toe l.` The front memberllterminates at its' 4upper end in about the plane of the top rail I3,

while the 4lower end of the rear member l2' bears approximately the samereiationto thebottom Theupper end of the member' I2 isex'- tendedrearwardly to providev a finger Il.' I n practice, this linger isdisposed at an angle of about 18 to the vertical plane of the railsjIS,while the foot l5 extends at an angle of about 45 to said verticalplane,

The top flange of the channel that forms'the vbottom member 5 isprovided with an aperture ture LfI, preferably in the" form of a shorthorizontally' disposed slot,V is made in the bac'k'wall v5 in proximityto each-of' the side 'wallsS *forA tl'ie reception ofthe iinger IT ofthefrack 'guide assoca't'ed With the' latter-Wall.'

To emplace a rack guide Within the oven compartment, it may be held inthe manner shown in Fig. 2, and the ringer I1 is projected through theaperture 2l. As the guide is swung toward the side wall, it iirstcontacts the latter along the junction between the rear member I2 andthe adjacent ends of the rails I3, and either the rack guide or thesheet metal side wall 3, or both, preferably is or are subjected to someslight degree of elastic deformation as the front end of the guide isswung into contact with said wall 3 and the toe I5 projected through theaperture 22. Thus each rack guide is held in rm contact with theadjacent side wall. This action is further enhanced by the fact that thetwo points of attachment between the rack guide and oven struoture areon an axis approximately diagonal of the substantially rectangular` rackguide unit, which axis is represented by the line X-'-X in Fig. 3.Therefore, any tendency for said unit to rock on the axis X-X is opposedby contact of its top front corner and lower rear corner with the ovenWall.

' To remove the rack guide from the oven compartment, the foregoingoperation is reversed. c

@,With the rack guides removed, the walls of the oven compartment may bereadily cleaned.

A shelf or so-called rack 25, of which there may be any desired number,is adapted to be slidably supported upon the corresponding rails I3 ofthe opposed rack guides le. Each rack consists of a rectangular frame2G, that may be .constructed of rod of the same quality and diameter asthat from which the rack guides are fabricated, and welded to the frontand rear cross members of the frame are the opposite ends of elements2S, preferably consisting of rod or .wire of a lesser diameter than thepreviously mentioned rod.' Intermediate their ends, the cle- -ments Esare supported by, and preferably welded to, a cross member 2Q. Toprevent utensils or other objects from sliding oi the rack at the rear,especially when the rack is slid forwardly to extended position, a crossbar 30 is provided and this, in the present instance, is formed of anintegral part of the rod or wire that form certain of the elements 28-inthe present instance, the second ones from each side of the rack.`S-shaped members 32 are welded to the rear member of the rackkrame, andhorisontal end portions thereof provide lugs 33 that underlie the railsI3 upon which the `sides of the' rack rest. Some distance forwardly ofthe lugs 33 are stops 3d that depend from the side 4,members of theframe Et. These stops are thus disposed within the spaces between therails I3 and the adjacent side walls 3 and by enga-gement with thelaterally turned front ends of 2the rails 13limit the outward movementof the rac-lr and thus determine its fullyl extended position. When. insuch position, Ythe rack is prevented from tilting downwardly at itsforward end by the engagement of the lugs 33 with the under side of therail 3. Furthermore, under these conditions, the rack guides Ill arealso held against accidental upward displacement at ltheir rear ends bythe engagement of the lingers I1 within theapertures 2i in the rear wallIl. The `vertical branches 35 of the members 32, by contact with therails I3, prevent lateral displacement of the rack. When it is desiredto remove a rack from the oven compartment, it is only necessary tolift-the front end of the rack and .pull the rack forwardly so `that thestops 34 will escape the outwardly turned front ends of the opposedrails I3 by Whichthe rack is supported.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. In combination, a structure enclosing an oven compartment andincluding substantially plane side Walls for said compartment, and rackguides in the compartment adjacent said walls,

.each rack guide consisting of a rectangular unit entirely containedwithin said compartment and provided with a generally rearwardlyextending holding part at its rear end and a substantially verticallyextending holding part adjacent its forward end, said holding partsbeing at considerably diiierent elevations, and the structure havingforwardly opening apertures adjacent the rear of the oven compartmentfor the reception of the rearwardly extending holding parts of the rackguides, and apertures adjacent the froni of the oven compartment whoseaxes are vertical and wherein the vertically extending holding parts ofthe rack guides are adapted to be engaged, said apertures being spaced ashort distance from the side walls of the compartment, each rack guidebeing resilient and the corners thereof remote from an axis passingthrough the holding parts of 'the rack guide being spaced from thevertical plane of said axis toward the adjacent side wall a distanceslightly greater than the beforementioned distance whereby, when theholding parts are engaged in the appropriate apertures, said corners ofthe rack guide will be yieldingly pressed against the adjacent sidewall.

2. In combination, a structure enclosing an oven compartment andincluding a back wall and opposed side walls and a bottom member forsaid compartment, and rack guides adapted to be removably supportedentirely within the compartment adjacent said side walls; each rackguide comprising a substantially vertical front member, a rear memberapproximately parallel to the front member, and a plurality ofsubstantially horizontal guide rails connected rat their ends to saidfront and rear members, the rear member incorporating a generallyrearwardly extending holding part at its upper end, and the front memberbeing provided at its lower end with a laterally extending foot and atoe depending therefrom, the back wall of the oven compartment havingapertures spaced from the side walls for the reception of the aforesaidrearwardly extending holding parts, 4and the bottom member constitutinga support for the feet of the front members of the rack guides andhaving apertures spaced from the side walls adjacent the front cornersof the oven compartment for the reception of the aforesaid toes, areasof eachY rack guide remote from and on opposite sides of an axis passingthrough its holding part and toe engaging the adjacent side wall toholdthe rack guide against rocking on said axis, and the presence ofsaid holding part in the corresponding aperture of the back wallconstraining the rear end of the rack guide against vertical movement.

3. In combination, a structure enclosing an oven compartment andincluding a back wall and opposed side walls and a bottom member forsaid compartment, and rack guides adapted to be removably supportedentirely within the compartment adjacent said side walls; each rackguide comprising a plurality of substantially horizontal parallel railsconstructed of rod and having their ends turned outwardly, a verticalfront member also constructed of rod and to which thevgvforwward facesof the outturned front ends of the rails are welded, the lower end ofthe front member being extended laterally to form a foot and thencedownwardly to provide a toe, and a rear member approximately parallel tothe front member and constructed of rod and to which the rearward facesof the rear ends of the rails are welded, the upper end of the rearmember being inclined inwardly and rearwardly to provide a nger, theaforesaid back wall having apertures spaced from the side walls for thereception of the fingers of the opposed rack guides, and said bottommember having apertures spaced from the side walls adjacent the frontcorners of the compartment for the reception of the toes of the rackguides, the extremities of the rails and said front and rear members ofthe rack guide being in close proximity to the side walls when thelinger and toe occupy the respective corresponding apertures in the backwall and bottom member.

4. The combination with a structure enclosing an oven compartment andincluding substantially plane side Walls therefor, of rack guidescontained with the compartment adjacent said walls; each rack guidebeing rectangular and resilient and provided with a holding part at itsupper rear corner and -a second holding part at its lower front cornerwhereby any tendency of the rack guide to rock will be about an axisextending substantially -diagonally of the rack guide, and the structurehaving unobstructed apertures accessible from inside the compartment andwherein said holding parts are detachably engaged, said apertures beingspaced a short distance from the side walls, and the corners of eachrack guide remote from and on opposite sides of said axis being spacedin the direction of the adjacent side wall from the vertical plane ofsaid axis a distance slightly greater than the aforesaid distancewhereby, when the holding parts are engaged in the appropriateapertures,

said corners of the rack guide will be yieldingly pressed `against theadjacent side wall.

5. The combination with a structure enclosing an oven compartment andincluding substantially plane side Walls therefor, of rack guidescontained within the compartment adjacent said walls; each rack guidebeing rectangular and provided with a holding part at its upper rearcorner and a second holding part at its lower front corner whereby anytendency of the rack guide to rock will be about an axis extendingsubstantially diagonally of the rack guide, and the structure havingunobstructed apertures accessible from inside the compartment andwherein said holding parts are detachably engaged, said apertures beingspaced a short distance from the side walls, and the corners of eachrack guide remote from and on opposite sides of said Aaxis being spacedin the direction of the adjacent side wall from the vertical plane ofsaid axis a distance substantially not less than the aforesaid distancewhereby, when the holding parts are engaged in the lappropriateapertures, the last mentioned corners of the rack guide will contact theadjacent side wall thereby to prevent the rack guide from rocking on theaforesaid axis.

LEE -S. CHADWICK. MARC RESEK.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

